Lies
by Lielka
Summary: She looked up at her once teammate and said, “Lies. All lies.” Because that was what she had been taught to do. Lie.
1. Kidnapping and rescuing

Summary: She looked up at her once teammate and said, "Lies. All lies." _Because that was what she had been taught to do. Lie._

Rating: T, or 13-15 but swearing will be heavy later in the story, along with violence .If you can't stand any of that I suggest you click the back button.

Genre: Drama/Adventure/Romance

Author: Lielka

Author's notes:

This is my first story and I hope you enjoy it. As far as I am aware this is the first time a fiction like this has been written with Kakuzu as the one "finding" Hinata.

Otherwise it has only been Itachi and Kisame as far as I know.

You can vote what pairing you want on my profile. Any pairings not listed you can PM me, although I will only use them as a side pairing then.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto, however I own the plotline.

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The bounty hunter and his partner watched as the Kumo nin jumped through the trees with a small bundle tied over the leader's shoulders. "Can we attack 'em yet?", his current partner Daiko whined.

Daiko was a fat yet powerful nukenin, who was unfortunately for his partner almost always hungry. The food bills Kakuzu had to pay were a testament to that. He was also very, very perverted and would go for any woman, single or not, if she was reasonably pretty.

Daiko didn't get an answer, due to the fact that the only thing Kakuzu currently had in mind, was getting the Kumo nin with the delicious bounty of 8 million ryo. He disregarded the other seven nin, as they had no bounties, and therefore were of no value to him.

In the meantime, while Kakuzu had been thinking, the Kumo nin had come to a halt in a small clearing. The bundle was quickly untied from the jounin captain's back and as her form became clearer in the bright light of the full moon, it became apparent that said bundle was actually a girl round about six or seven years old.

The two Akatsuki stopped following, and concealed themselves in the shadows, Kakuzu waiting for the right moment, and Daiko begrudgingly waiting for Kakuzu's orders.

They watched with little interest, as one of the ninja pried open one of the girl's eyes and said, "Yep, No trick's been played", as the reply to an unspoken question that had flitted through the group's mind.

Kakuzu's interest suddenly grew as he recognized the telltale white eyes eyes. The girl was a Hyuga. He struggled to remember what little he knew about the clan (although it was still significantly more than most people, and ninja knew).

All those who had their kekke genkai, a bloodline limit called the Byakugan, had a 360° range of vision, and they could cause severe internal damage with a simple "poke" or tap of their fingers. What was less known was that they could see chakra systems, and the occasional individual could see chakra points.

Due to these facts, many people wanted the incredible doujutsu, as it was also said that the sharingan, another one of the strongest kekke genkai, was a twisted or mutated version of the Byakugan.

The only problem in trying to steal it or at minimum analyze it, was that it was jealously guarded by the Hyuga clan, by means of a seal on their brows, which, in case of death, destroyed all evidence of the Byakugan in the body of the sealed, and would react similarly to experimentation.

The only people without the seal were those of the main house, the leaders of the clan.

Kakuzu regarded the small child who had been propped up against the tree while her captors were taking a break, with more interest, noting that her forehead was bare, signifying that she was of the main house Hyuga.

Possibilities rushed through Kakuzu's head. He could kill the cloud-nin, get a bounty and gain a chance to figure out the secrets of the Hyuga.

If some of them got away with the Hyuga, he still had the bounty and if she died and he had her body then someone like Orochimaru could probably still access the Byakugan's secrets. Sasori, Orochimaru and all the five great shinobi nations would pay a small fortune for the body of a Hyuga, for their respective reasons of course.

All the situations were win/win, as Kakuzu had no doubt in his _own _skills.

He _had _doubt in his partner's abilities, but that was no matter, as there were mainly chunin in the squad they were going to attack.

Finally coming to a decision, he turned to his partner, eyes brimming with bloodlust.

"Leave the brat alive. Kill the rest."

Without further ado, both nukenins jumped into the clearing, Daiko killing the first nin in his way with a quick flick of a kunai, whilst Kakuzu had all except the jounin leader ensnared in his tentacle-like appendages, quickly ripping through their vital organs. In the mean time, Daiko grappled with the jounin, although this was quickly brought to an end by Kakuzu using a tentacle to stab through the Kumo nin's heart.

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Hinata woke up to the smell of smoke, in near-darkness , and her confused mind, after a few bewildered moments panicked as she realised that she wasn't on her futon at home. Looking at her surroundings in a frenzy, she stood up and got into a shaky fighting stance, activating her Byakugan.

"Sit down kid." A deep voice from behind her ordered, and Hinata, being the good girl she was and in addition a currently very frightened girl, obeyed and sat back down on the ground with a muffled thump, deactivating her precious kekke genkai. After all, it wasn't much use anyway, as she could only see distinctive shapes about three metres around her, after which everything blurred into confusing shapes.

She timidly looked up to catch a small glimpse of the man who had spoken. He was wearing a black cloak patterned with red clouds, sitting on the large root of a tree. Due to the cloak's high collar covering most of his lower face she could only catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a mask, or , as she looked at the upper part of his face, the lower part of a two-coloured balaclava. The only things she could discern were his eye and skin colour.

His skin was dark, like coffee except greyer, like slate or granite, which made him look more like a very scary statue. His eyes though, were another story altogether.

The whites of his eyes _weren't _white, but a rather fleshy pink and the irises and pupils were the same colour, a dark shade of green. This made him look even creepier, and _just_ when Hinata thought she couldn't become any more scared, he had to turn his eyes on her and glare.

Gathering up the dregs of her disappearing courage, Hinata managed to ask a single question. "W-who are y-you?"

The man merely grunted and walked over to the fire, shifted some logs and sat down, ignoring her question completely.

Hinata stood back up and took a couple of hesitant steps backwards, suddenly bumping into something soft that most definitely hadn't been there when she had peered around. Looking up, she discovered an almost leering pudgy (by shinobi standards), face and she eeped softly.

"What's your name kiddo?"

She didn't reply, instead gazing at him with the wide frightened eyes of a rat caught by a snake. Not that they looked like either animal.

"Jeez." Daiko sighed, moving away from Hinata. "What'cha lookin' s' scared of.

Hinata jumped a little, and finally stuttered out her name. "H-hina-t-ta."

"Sunny place, in the sun, or sunflower. Don't fit cha." Hinata nodded mutely trying to muster up more courage to ask another question. "Why a-am I he-here?"

The man with the mask answered: "One of the nin from Kumogakure no Sato that kidnapped you had a bounty so we killed him." Hinata looked at him with horror, and tired to ask how this tied in with her, but the large (or fat), man , anticipating the question, answered for her. "Wedidn't want ta leave you behind tied up in the forest all alone so we took ya with us. Kakuzu gave Daiko an incredulous look. The way his "partner" had put it made it sound like they actually cared not to leave a child alone in a forest.

"We have a usefor you. If you prove your worth." Kakuzu didn't name the alternatives, which were dissecting her for her eyes, keeping her as a hostage, or torturing her for information. Not that she would know much of importance anyway.

Hinata had tensed up again, throwing a nervous look at Kakuzu. Daiko looked surprised that they might keep her. Meanwhile Hinata was thinking about what the man had said. Prove her worth? She was weak. She knew it, as her father had always said it to her. She knew it was true. "I-I'm going t-to disappoint y-you then. I-I'm weak."

"Strength isn't needed. We just need you to have speed, endurance, stealth and the ability to lie well."

Lying? What for? Hinata didn't like lying. The last time she had lied, her father had punished her harshly when he found out.

That day had been the anniversary of Neji's father's death, her uncle's death, and she had visited his faux grave as his body had never been returned by Kumogakure. Neji had also been there, and had reacted violently, punching her in the stomach and leaving her with an orange-sized bruise that was immediately spotted by her stepmother the next day.

After being notified about it, her father had questioned her. She had given him a pathetic excuse that he immediately saw through and demanded the truth from her. She had not answered and her punishment had immediately been decided. She was banned from doing her favourite activities, no playtime, only nonstop training, and her diet had been regulated as well. She was still well fed, because she was heir, and a child, but many pleasantries had been cut out.

That had been half a year ago. Hinata had never told her father the truth.

She pulled herself out of her thoughts as Kakuzu continued. "If you pass the test you will become my underling. I and Daiko work for an organisation, of which its business is no concern to you. Your tasks would be ones like spying and stealing."

"W-what's the o-organisation's name?"

Kakuzu paused before answering. "It is not my place to tell you. If you pass you will have to meet our leader."

Hinata didn't like the sound of that.

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Several hours later, Hinata was seriously close to giving up and telling the two men that she wanted to go home. They had walked at a steady pace throughout the night and Hinata, having never done so much strenuous exercise before (she had only joined the academy half a year ago), was exhausted.

They had walked from the time she had woken up, to the time it was now, sometime near dawn. An extra annoyance was that her aching muscles were starting to cramp.

Suddenly continuing to walk on in a sleepy doze, Hinata walked into the taller of the two men who had still not introduced himself.

He turned his head to glare at her and Hinata quickly straightened up. "We're there."

Now that she was looking, Hinata could see buildings through the thinning trees and shivered. Her fate would depend on what happened in the small dingy town up the path.

_To be continued…_

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_**Author's notes**_

**_Translations and definitions_**

**Nukenin**  
-_translated as: missing nin__  
-definition: A ninja who has defected from their home village, symbolised by having a line slashed through their village symbol on the metal bit of their hitae ate_

**Hitae ate or hitai ate (sp?)**_  
-translation__: forehead protector  
-definition: a band with a metal plate depicting the village symbol, can be tied around neck, forehead waist arm…_

**Daiko**_  
-definition: an OC created for plot convenience. Don't worry though, he won't last long (Kakuzu has a habit of killing his partners)__  
-translation: large child (ko means child)_

**Akatsuki**_  
-translation: red dawn; NOT RED CLOUD OR MOON_

**Hyuga  
**_-definition: a clan in the leaf village (Konohagakure no Sato)  
-translation: sun_

**Byakugan**_  
-definition: a hereditary trait belonging to the Hyuga clan  
-translation: white eye_

**Kekke genkai**_  
-translation: bloodline limit (I think)  
-definition: a special heritable ability, usually confined to clans_

**Doujutsu**_  
-translation: eye technique  
-definition: In Naruto doujutsu are usually kekke genkai in the users eyes, although it could also be applied to a technique where one's eyes are used, say a genjutsu (illusion technique)_

**Sharingan**_  
-definition: a hereditary trait belonging to the Uchiha clan  
-translation: copy wheel eye_

**Uchiha**_  
-definition: a clan in the leaf village  
-translation: The fan that fans the roaring flames or something less complicated/similar_

**Kumo**_  
-abbreviation of Kumogakure no Sato; translation: village hidden in the clouds  
-definition: ninja village in lightning country  
_

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I'm assuming you all know what jounin, chunin… are, and what Akatsuki is.

The rest… well I just felt like it, and I do get annoyed comments from my friends when I say a Japanese word without explaining it. I do not speak Japanese, fluent or otherwise (though I wish I could learn), so if you point out any mistakes I will be happy to correct them.

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R&R (Read&Review)

Lielka


	2. Her fate

Summary: She looked up at her once teammate and said, "Lies. All lies." _Because that was what she had been taught to do. Lie._

Rating: T, or 13-15 but swearing will be heavy later in the story, along with violence .If you can't stand any of that I suggest you click the back button.

Genre: Drama/Adventure/Romance

Author: Lielka

Author's notes:

Please vote the pairing you want on my profile.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto, however I own the plotline of this fanfic.

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Key:

_Italics= flashback or emphasis on a word_

"…"= talking

_Last time…_

_Suddenly, continuing to walk on in a sleepy doze, Hinata walked into the taller of the two men who had still not introduced himself._

_He turned his head to glare at her and Hinata quickly straightened up. "We're there."_

_Now that she was looking, Hinata could see buildings through the thinning trees and shivered. Her fate would depend on what happened in the small dingy town up the path._

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Hinata nervously walked into the village, attracting quite a few stares from the people on the streets. In her hand she had the roughly drawn sketch of directions to the local inn and the paper with the bounty, and she reflected on what she had been ordered to do.

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_They had stopped just in front of the village for Kakuzu to explain Hinata's task. At the moment he was holding a paper with a__ photo of a man on it, and 400,000 written underneath. The man was called __Chishiki__ Warui and was a nukenin from Iwagakure, as symbolised by the scratched hitae ate._

"_Go through the village while following this." The masked man was now drawing some rough scribbles on the back of the paper. "Get the man from the picture to come here. I don't care how. Lie, beat him up and drag him here. Any method will do." Hinata looked quite scared. "Just don't show him the picture."_

_And so the seven-year old had toddled into the village to lure out __a chunin nukenin when she had barely been in the academy for half a year, where all she had learnt was mostly theory and throwing weapons._

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The further she walked, the more people would stare at her, either men with hangovers who leered at the small girl, men without hangovers who leered at her, or children with nothing better to do.

One of the children came up to the near terrified girl and asked. "My name's Iro. What's your name?" "I-it's Hinata. D-do you know w-where the inn is?" "Sure." The boy replied. "You turn right at the end of this road and a long way down it you'll find it. Nobody's gonna be awake though except those weird strangers."

"Weird strangers?" "Yeah I mean really weird. My dad told me to stay away from them." At that point, a teenage girl walking to the inn who had overheard their conversation spoke sharply to the children. "Stay away from those men. They're _shinobi_ and nukenin to boot." Her voice was laced with venom when she said the word shinobi.

Both children looked shocked, although for different reasons. Iro looked shocked because the shinobi looked very much like the men in this village, except with different clothes. He had imagined them differently, more like bodybuilders or someone similar.

Hinata's thoughts were another story altogether. She had never heard the term shinobi been put so negatively, and was asking herself why these people seemed to hate them.

Pulling herself out of her musings Hinata turned to the boy. "I have to go now. Maybe I'll see you again someday." Iro jolted from his thoughts and looked sad. "Promise you'll visit?" "Ok. I'll come back someday." Hinata doubted it. She didn't even know where this village was, let alone able to find it if she wandered into the forests.

Giving a small wave, the girl continued towards the inn, which could hardly be classified as such. It was dingy, reeked of piss, smoke and beer and a musky something that Hinata couldn't define as she stepped inside.

The only people as far as she could see were some men with long faces sitting at a corner table… with clothes similar to those the shinobi in her village wore.

She looked at them timidly, trying to spot the man she had seen on the picture, which she had tucked away some time earlier, when she heard light, barely-there footsteps coming down the stairs. The other men had noticed her by now and were staring at Hinata menacingly. One of them stood up and growled down at her. "What the hell are you doing here, _gaki_?!?"

Hinata looked terrified, but, as if her life depended on it she mustered up the courage to stutter a description of the man on the bounty. The man looked suspicious. "What d'_you_ want our boss for, huh?"

The quickly came up with the best excuse she could find and stuttered it out, and thankfully the man chalked it up to nervousness and not lying. "M-my master w-wants to t-t-talk to him about a-a job."

Just then a voice called from the stairs. "What's all the flippin' noise about Hiroshi. I've still got a fucking nasty headache." The other man (apparently called Hiroshi), pointed to Hinata and said. "This brat wants to talk with you 'bout a job or somethin'."

"Oh really." Warui, as Hinata recognized him from the picture, didn't sound convinced. Hurriedly Hinata repeated what she had said to Hiroshi to Warui. His reply to it was. "What's the job and how much's the pay?"

Hinata nervously pushed her fingers together. "U-uh th-tha's why my master wants to speak to you."

Warui snorted. "Fine then! Lead me to your master, but hurry it up. I still have a shitty headache." He obviously didn't regard the little girl and her master a threat, since no nukenin would ordinarily be so trusting to go with someone they didn't know. Unfortunately for him, such carelessness cost many people their lives soon to be including his own.

They walked back through the village, being stared at even more than before. Iro thankfully wasn't there to ask Hinata more questions and she felt relieved as she had hated to lie to him.

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Outside the village gates Kakuzu was sitting in a tree, waiting for the girl to come back with the shinobi… or for screams to sound from the village. Screams of pain from the Hyuga, screams of terror and hysteria from the villagers or screams of bloodlust from rogues. The latter expectation was part of the reason why the shinobi's bounty was so high.

The man controlled a skilled group of bandits and nukenin through his knowledge of warfare, shinobi skills etc. Well anyway he wouldn't be a match for Kakuzu if he came alone. That's also why he sent the brat out to fetch the man. She looked and was innocent, so people would trust her more than two cloaked men with hitae ates, signifying them as shinobi.

If he remembered correctly, the people in this area also had an avid hate of nin because of the great shinobi wars. This was one of the main areas where shinobi had battled so it had been a hard blow to the local economy, and of course their population. Just one of the many reasons these people hated shinobi.

He would be killing the man by himself as Daiko had _yet again _gone off to get some food. Ridiculously expensive and fancy food. Just thinking about the waste made his blood boil.

He was torn out of his anger-filled thoughts by the sight of two figures walking towards the village gate. So, she had managed to do it after all and was worth keeping.

The two walked through the gate and continued on walking. The Hyuga with small, fast steps, and Tarui or whatever his name was strolling behind her with a rolling gait.

With a shunshin, Kakuzu flickered behind the chunin and swung a hardened fist at the other man, who immediately ducked and took a kunai from his pouch, turning around and swinging at Kakuzu, who stilled, and allowed the kunai to hit him. Warui's triumphant smirk disappeared as soon as it came when the kunai hit Kakuzu's skin and _didn't sink in_. Instead, a ringing sounded, clear as a bell, as if the kunai had struck stone and a shudder ran through Warui's arm. Now it was Kakuzu's turn to smirk as he grabbed Warui's throat to hold him still whilst letting a thread pierce the man right through the head.

Letting the body drop he turned to the frozen Hyuga. "My name is Kakuzu and the organization's name is Akatsuki. My partner's name is Daiko."

Hinata's eyes widened in surprise. Did that mean that she…? "You're now my subordinate. Come." He lead her to a clearing off the main path, promptly turning towards her. "Can you use your Byakugan and how far can you see with it?" As an answer Hinata activated it. "A-about three metres."

Kakuzu snorted. "Work on that then while we're _waiting _for my partner. Remember this: Time is money, and to get by in life, you need money. So don't waste time." He sat down and took out a bag from the insides of his cloak. She stared at it with her Byakugan, puzzled, because what was inside looked like lots of pieces of paper wrapped in bundles. However, as soon as he took one out it turned out to be bundles of money, and he started counting it.

"Well." He glared at her. "Start training."

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Roughly three hours later Daiko came back to a snoozing Hyuga and an impatient partner. Hinata had collapsed from lack of sleep and food (the last time she had eaten properly was before she had been kidnapped), about an hour ago, and Kakuzu wanted to get to the bounty collection station as quickly as possible. After all, he had more of them to collect.

Daiko though (much to Kakuzu's further annoyance), insisted that they sit down to eat and have a rest afterwards. It wasn't because Hinata was there, oh no, Daiko insisted upon such frivolous things _regularly_. If this continued, Kakuzu would be rid of his fifth partner thanks to his temper, which frayed and flared _very _easily when it came to some subjects (aka money).

Once the delicious meal was consumed, and Daiko had had his break (one hour) they walked on.

_To be continued…_

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_**Author's notes:**_

As per the original Japanese, I will write surnames first, so Chishiki is the nukenin's surname (just in case I've confused anyone).

Oh, and I'm following the manga storyline, not the anime because of the fillers. (I hate most of them)

_**Translations and definitions:**_

**Warui**_  
-translation: bad_

**Chishiki**_  
-translation: knowledge_

**Iro**_  
-translation: colour_

**Iwagakure no Sato  
**_-translation: Hidden Village in the rock/stone  
-definition: same as Kumogakure except in earth country_

**Gaki**_  
-translation: brat_

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Next chapter: Hinata's first trip to a bounty collection station and meeting other members. What's this? A new member appears?

R&R

Lielka


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